WASHINGTON − The growing clash between President Donald Trump and the judiciary took a major turn Tuesday as Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts rebuked Trump‘s call for the impeachment of a federal judge.
“For more than two centuries, it has been established that impeachment is not an appropriate response to disagreement concerning a judicial decision,” Roberts said in a rare public statement. “The normal appellate review process exists for that purpose.”
Trump on Tuesday called for the impeachment of a federal judge who tried to stop the Republican administration from deporting hundreds of alleged Venezuelan gang members via the Alien Enemies Act, a 1798 law last used during World War II.
Trump, in a social media post, referred to Chief U.S. Judge James Boasberg in Washington, D.C., who was appointed by former President Barack Obama, as a “Radical Left Lunatic of a Judge” and “a troublemaker and agitator.”
Unlike himself, Trump argued, Boasberg did not win all seven battleground states in the 2024 White House election en route to an “OVERWHELMING MANDATE” that the president said was centered on his promise to fight illegal immigration.
“I’m just doing what the VOTERS wanted me to do. This judge, like many of the Crooked Judges’ I am forced to appear before, should be IMPEACHED!!!” Trump said in his post on Truth Social. “WE DON’T WANT VICIOUS, VIOLENT, AND DEMENTED CRIMINALS, MANY OF THEM DERANGED MURDERERS, IN OUR COUNTRY.”
Trump’s call for impeachment escalated his increasing attacks on federal district judges who have sided against his administration on several fronts, including its efforts to cut the federal workforce through Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. Trump officials, including Vice President JD Vance, have accused judges of trying to control the executive branch’s power.
Trump responded to Roberts’ statement in a Fox News interview aired Tuesday night. “Well, he didn’t mention my name in the statement. I just saw it quickly,” Trump said. “But many people have called for the impeachment of this judge. I don’t know who the judge is, but he’s radical left.”
Asked by Fox News’ Laura Ingraham whether he would defy a court order, Trump said: “No, you can’t do that. However, we have bad judges. We have very bad judges, and these are judges that shouldn’t be allowed.”
Although rarely executed, Congress has the authority to impeach federal judges through the same process as other federal officials.
The House of Representatives can impeach a judge with a simple majority, but votes from two-thirds of the Senate are required to convict the judge and remove them from office ‒ making a conviction highly unlikely under the Senate’s current makeup with 47 Democratic senators. Only 15 federal judges have ever been impeached and only eight have been convicted.
On Tuesday, Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, introduced articles of impeachment against Boasberg, saying Congress “will not tolerate politicized judges unconstitutionally usurping the President’s authority.” Other House Republicans, including Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., have drafted articles of impeachment targeting other federal judges who have ruled against Trump.
Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, said his GOP colleagues are trying to impeach judges “for the crime of upholding the rule of law against Trump’s plainly lawless acts.”
The Justice Department has also asked the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals to remove Boasberg from the case.
Before the change in administrations, Roberts warned in his December year-end report that the independence of the federal courts is under threat, including from attempts to intimidate judges and possible defiance of court orders.
“Public officials certainly have a right to criticize the work of the judiciary, but they should be mindful that intemperance in their statements when it comes to judges may prompt dangerous reactions by others,” wrote Roberts, a George W. Bush appointee who became the 17th chief justice of the United States upon his Senate confirmation in 2005.
What public officials don’t have the right to do, he said, is defy court opinions.
“Within the past few years, however, elected officials from across the political spectrum have raised the specter of open disregard for federal court rulings,” Roberts said, without giving examples.
In 2020, Roberts criticized comments Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., made at a rally outside the Supreme Court when the justices were considering a high-profile abortion case.
Schumer said justices had “released the whirlwind, and you will pay the price.”
Roberts called the comments “inappropriate” and “dangerous.”
In 2018, Roberts also spoke out after Trump characterized a federal judge who ruled against his administration as an “Obama judge.”
“We do not have Obama judges or Trump judges, Bush judges or Clinton judges,” Roberts said in a statement. “What we have is an extraordinary group of dedicated judges doing their level best to do equal right to those appearing before them.”
Trump pushed back.
“Sorry Chief Justice John Roberts, but you do indeed have `Obama judges,’ and they have a much different point of view than the people who are charged with the safety of our country,” he tweeted.
Gabe Roth, executive director of Fix the Court, said Tuesday Roberts needs to do more to ensure the judiciary’s independence.
That includes working with Congress to take the U.S. Marshals Service – which carries out court orders − out of the control of the executive branch, Roth said.
He also said safety training needs to be mandatory for every federal judge and security must be increased.
Boasberg tried to temporarily block deportation flights on Saturday through oral and written orders after Trump cited the seldom-used 1798 Alien Enemies Act to remove nearly 300 alleged members of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua from the United States.
But two deportation flights that had already left Texas for El Salvador via Honduras did not return to the United States despite the orders.
The 18th-century law allows the deportation of anyone from a designated enemy country who is not a naturalized citizen without providing the individual due process. Justice Department lawyers have refused the judge’s demand that they provide information about the flights.
White Houses press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Monday the Trump administration complied with the judge’s written order, arguing the Venezuelans were deported before it was released. But when pressed about a verbal order from the same judge that came earlier, Leavitt cited legal “questions” whether a verbal order carries the same weight as a written order.
Trump’s border czar” Tom Homan doubled down on the administration’s mass deportation campaign on Monday, saying he plans to continue the aggressive roundups and removals despite the court ruling.
“We’re not stopping,” Homan told Fox News in an interview. “I don’t care what the judges think. I don’t care what the left thinks. We’re coming.”
Lee Gelernt, a lawyer for the American Civil Liberties Union, which is representing the Venezuelans, said the administration appeared to have defied the judge’s order. “There’s been a lot of talk during the last several weeks about a constitutional crisis, throwing that term around,” Gelernt said Monday. “I think we’re getting very close to it.”
A Justice Department lawyer, Abhishek Kambli, told Boasberg his written order was not valid if it was issued after the flights had crossed into international territory. The Justice Department said the judge’s oral order was also unenforceable.
The administration has argued the Tren de Aragua gang members pose a national security threat.
But Boasberg, in his order, said the Alien Enemies Act does not “provide a basis for the president’s proclamation given that the terms invasion, predatory incursion really relate to hostile acts perpetrated by any nation and commensurate to war.”
(This story has been updated with more information and photos.)
